The Reef Roamer (The Roamer Series Book 1) (10 page)

If he hadn’t been watching intently, Mark would have missed the move; it was that quick. The guy had grabbed her hand, and in a smooth and agile move, Green-Eyes had him in a thumb-lock, their hands below the edge of the table, out of sight. They walked out the patio doors into the night. It may have looked like they were holding hands, although Mark knew better.

This lady is getting more and more interesting,
he thought.

Mark had seen that move many times during his stint in the military. He’d been assigned as a medic to the brig, to patch up the men who had had too much R&R. Too many times he had seen the MPs bring disorderly soldiers in, either drunk or high or both, using the thumb-lock, an easy and painful way to control trouble.

As he pondered this, Mark saw Green-Eyes return, alone. She sat down, picked up her drink, and continued as if nothing had happened.

So,
Mark thought,
she got rid of him quietly and without a scene.

But why? And why by herself, even if she was capable, which it certainly seemed she was? Why take that kind of risk? It didn’t make sense.

Unless
, his mind raced,
unless she has something to hide, some reason to not draw attention to herself.

The thought played and replayed in his mind all evening and then all the way back to his home attached to the clinic on the other end of the small island.

***

Jayme locked her doors behind her. She’d always been a cautious person, though tonight it seemed extra prudent to double check the doors and windows. Although she was ninety-nine percent certain that she’d seen the last of Bruce the Bore, there was still that one percent chance he’d try something stupid. Incidents like this, though few and far between, thank goodness, unnerved her greatly. Jayme didn’t like the persona she had to wear - it wasn’t her, and she didn’t like doing it. She was really a kind and gentle person, and hurting anyone went against her nature. Right now, she felt unclean by her encounter with Bruce.

She stripped off her brightly flowered sundress, leaving it in a heap on the floor by the closet, and headed for the shower.

As the hot water cascaded down her lithe body, soothing the tension away, Jayme ran the evening over in her mind, forgetting Bruce entirely, pleased with herself for getting the Thomases to consent to a resort dive.

Now, if she could only get Daniel to agree.

CHAPTER TEN

“Daniel, you train people for resort dives all the time, don’t you?” Jayme was dismayed and confused at his reluctance to lead the dive.

“Yes, though not usually with people as old as these two, Jayme. It’s one thing for someone to continue diving after they’ve reached sixty and beyond;
starting
at that age is another story. Jim might be okay, but Marge is not too healthy looking, if you get my drift,” Daniel argued, remembering Marge Thomas’ pale coloring and gaunt look, and most memorably, the way her fragile hands shook.

Jayme had sought Daniel out by 7:00am with her request on the Thomas’ behalf. Daniel was a good diver, and she trusted him. However, she also had other observations about him besides trust that she might have to use, and now seemed to be the time. Although his skin was as honey gold as his curly hair and his eyes icy blue, he was as native as one could be, born on the islands. And he had island pride.

“Daniel, Marge has been through a lot this past year. A lot of chemo and radiation therapy.” Jayme let her words soak in a moment and then continued. “She’s dying, Daniel. The cancer is in remission right now, and she’s as healthy as she’ll ever be. One of her dreams has been to dive, just once. Marge is a special person, and I want to help fulfill that dream.”

“I don’t know, Jayme, the rules—”

“I’m not asking you to break any rules, just bend them a little.” Then she asked, “How long have you worked at this resort, Daniel?”

“Since it opened.” He gave her a quizzical look.

That was the answer Jayme had expected. She was a watcher, and she had seen a sense of pride in Daniel concerning the resort and his duties, which extended beyond the dive boats. She pressed on.

“How much financial interest do you have in the place?” Jayme knew it was a highly personal question, and she was counting on surprise for an honest answer. She figured he owned at least ten percent.

“Fifteen percent.”

Jayme smiled sweetly while weighing her next words carefully. “You would probably do anything–legal, of course–to see the resort a success.”

He eyed her but said nothing. Jayme was about to take a monumental risk, a major career risk, but she was counting on the integrity and honor she had seen in Daniel’s personality. She went on, capturing his eyes with her own.

“Listen carefully, Daniel, and keep in mind that this is strictly between you and me. Nothing, absolutely
nothing
, must change while I’m here.” Jayme took a breath. “The Thomases have become dear to me, for reasons I’m not even sure about. I’d like to video their entire dive experience and present them with the footage before they go home. The final scene of that video will be a sunset,” she paused, lowering her already throaty voice, ready to tip her hand, waiting for his reaction, “
Because the sunset in Holm Cay, there’s none like it anywhere else in the world,
” Jayme finished in her best Reef Roamer voice, hoping Daniel knew the voice and what it meant.

Daniel’s blue eyes widened. “You’re—”

“Someone who wants to see the Thomases dive,” she cut him off. Daniel’s eyes were locked to hers. “I can also manage the same spectacular sunset shot from Holm Cay at the end of my next video.” Jayme knew that the closing sunset location was major advertisement for the resort chosen.

Daniel straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin defensively. “That sounds like blackmail, Jayme, a prime spot on a
Reef Roamer
video in exchange for a resort dive for a couple I find questionable.”

Jayme had been defeated. She’d lost to the integrity she’d counted on to win. “You’re right, Daniel. I’m sorry. It does sound like blackmail, and that isn’t my style.” She was staring at the sand between her toes, feeling embarrassed and dejected. She looked up to him. “And don’t worry; Holm Cay will be given as much consideration as the other Abaco Islands I’ve been to. Your decision will have no bearing on that. Grudges aren’t my style, either. But please, keep my secret anyway, okay? If word got out I’m here, I’ll leave, and there’ll be no Abaco tape at all. That’s not a threat, Daniel; that’s just the way it has to be. I hope you understand.”

Her face took on an unreadable quality to it. There was an aged, sad look in her beautiful green eyes that confused the young islander.

Daniel hesitated, weighing what she’d said. His expression changed as he made a decision.

“When do you want to get started?” he asked with a boyish grin.

“9:00.” She grinned back, letting out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “One more thing, Daniel. Do you know a dive master named Miguel?”

***

Jayme headed back to her room, mentally preparing a list of things to do with only an hour in which to do them. She took her land camera, fitted it with a fresh memory card and newly charged battery, and went back to the dock. Remembering the sight she had had of the hotel when she first arrived, she felt it would make a suitable beginning to the DVD for the Thomases. She made a leisurely sweep of the beach area and then turned her attention to the resort itself.

After walking through the lobby, Jayme approached the main desk. The employees on duty recognized her, smiled, and waved at the camera. After a week of her around always filming something, no one gave her a second thought anymore.

Interesting,
she thought. She’d have to remember to film first
-
shots
during
her visits, not at the beginning. Everyone came across much friendlier to a familiar face. A sweep of the dining room and patio finished the inside hotel shots. Jayme zoomed the camera to close up when she recognized a certain handsome, dark-haired man occupying a corner table. He was facing sideways to her, and she took the opportunity to study his profile. His smooth features shifted as the sunlight changed the angles of the shadows in the room. The intriguing stranger turned and caught her staring at him through her lens. Jayme shifted, hoping to conceal her embarrassment, but not before she saw him smile.

***

Jayme was pleased with how quickly she was progressing with the new movie. Now she was headed to the Thomas’ room to tell them the good news.

Marge and Jim were delighted with Jayme’s arrangements. They were both skeptical over Daniel’s willingness to take them on, considering the possible risks and the fact that he had already turned them down once.

“Everyone is entitled to change their mind,” Jayme assured them. “Besides, there’s really not that much risk. Our dive will be in twenty to thirty feet of water. If something were to go wrong,
which it won’t
, you can reach the surface in seconds. Twenty feet is not deep by dive standards, and there are beautiful things to see and experience at that depth. Also, your dive certification will be good only for this resort and this dive.”

“It sounds like a lot of work for such a short duration,” Jim remarked.

“It is in a way. The idea of resort diving is to give a person a thorough taste of what diving and dive training is like
before
they invest a lot of time and money into the training and equipment, only to find out they don’t like diving,” Jayme responded. Then she explained to them how she would do some ‘amateur’ video recording of their dive. “Before we go down to the docks where Daniel will be conducting your class, your private class I might add, I’d like to get a few shots of the two of you in your room. That way you can show the folks back home not only where you stayed but what it looked like.”

Marge and Jim waved joyously at the camera as Jayme continued filming.

After agreeing to meet them down at the dock in half an hour, Jayme was off to find more scenic locations to fill the DVD she would burn later. Remembering the stretch of beach she walked her first day on the island, she added beautiful panoramic scenes of abundant bougainvillea and colorful hibiscus. Oleanders and masses of wild orchids fell gracefully from the palm trees near the shore and added an exotic kaleidoscope of color to contrast the azure blue of the nearby ocean. Pleased with herself, Jayme now had to hurry to prepare for the upcoming dive.

***

Jayme had to promise Daniel she would be Marge’s ‘buddy’ for the dive, and he promised these would be private lessons, at the going rate of course, which Jayme gladly paid. Marge and Jim were taken through all the textbook techniques on the shore in the shade of the banyan trees. They were apt and enthusiastic students, and Daniel was duly impressed. Shortly before noon, Daniel and Jayme selected gear from the resort’s rental storage locker and helped the Thomases suit up.

“Isn’t this exciting, Jim? We will finally get to dive!” Marge was obviously on cloud nine. Jim could only look lovingly at his wife of forty years. He faced Jayme, and his smile shifted to one of gratitude. Jayme silently returned the smile.

“Now,” Daniel continued, “the vest you’re wearing is called a Buoyancy Control Device, BCD for short, or just BC. It is used to keep you afloat at the surface, similar to a life vest. More importantly, it’s used to keep you off the coral as you swim along the bottom. The further down you go, the more pressure you’re under and the more likely you are to brush against the corals. We protect the coral at all costs. Marge, what is the atmospheric pressure at sixty-six feet?”

“Two,” she replied quickly.

“Good. And at thirty-three feet?”

“One. It increases one atmosphere every thirty-three feet.” Marge beamed with pleasure at her newfound information.

“Alright, we’re going to practice breathing with the regulators…”

The lessons continued over the next hour, with the four of them sitting in the water at various depths. Every now and then, Jayme would drift ten or fifteen feet out from them, switch on her camera, and swim back to them, always eliciting joyous waves of hello for the camera.

At one thirty in the afternoon, Daniel and Jayme were ready to take the Thomases on their first shore dive. Jayme had explained that while she would be Marge’s buddy for the dive, most of the time she would stay ten to thirty feet away so she could video what they were doing. Daniel didn’t argue with Jayme’s plan, as the dive would be in relatively shallow water, and the surface easily reached in the event of a problem. Besides, the elderly couple had proved to be apt students.

“Okay, Marge, let me see you prepare your mask. Good,” Daniel commented when she smeared the inside of the face plate with de-fogger and rinsed it off lightly with fresh water. “Now the two of you check each other’s equipment.”

“You two look like old pros at this,” Jayme said. Her commentary from the water was encouraging to the pair. “Super, now swim toward me some, let the air out of your BC and begin your descent with Daniel.”

While the duo did as instructed, Jayme guided her camera to water level, following them below as they descended. The effect would be phenomenal, water splashing against the lens, then clearing as it reached full submersion.

Jayme stayed fairly close until the pair relaxed. Soon they began to show the normal curiosity about what was on the ocean floor, and Jayme drifted away to get a better angle. Having planned many underwater videos, Jayme knew the Thomases would want to see on film the same things they were seeing up close. She panned away from the trio and focused on the honey damsel fish off to her left. Soon a yellowtail snapper became curious and joined the four eye butterfly fish that had wandered into view. A school of blue chromis was dodging in and out the tube corals, and Jayme deftly captured them on the digital film.

When she spotted a tiger grouper approaching the group, Jayme remembered the treats in her pocket. She swam over to Marge and tapped her on the arm to get her attention. Jayme held up her hand, palm to Marge, to indicate ‘wait’, then she unzipped one of her many BC pockets and pulled out a plastic baggie filled with strips of ham from the morning breakfast table. She gave Marge and Jim each several strips, giving the rest, including the baggie, to Daniel, who pocketed it and nodded, knowing immediately what she had in mind. The trio was soon surrounded by a spectacular feeding frenzy involving many varieties of colorful fish. Blue-headed wrasse, stoplight parrotfish, indigo hamlets, and the ever-present yellow jacks joined together to form a curtain between Jayme and the others. The surprised and delighted look on Marge’s face filled Jayme with a warm glow.

The dive was quickly coming to an end. Daniel had allowed the Thomases to stay down much longer than Jayme had anticipated. Nearly forty-five minutes. She took her place by Marge as they made their leisurely way toward the shore. Near the surface, Jayme pulled the camera up barely below surface level and switched it on. She slowly brought it up and out of the water, like a surfacing submarine. Holding the camera steady while bobbing in the water was not easy, but she did capture the couple climbing out of the water and sprawling on the beach in satisfied exhaustion.

“Good dive, people!” Daniel grinned. “I’m really proud of you, Marge. You handled that feeding like a veteran. Weren’t you scared at all?”